Ice is commonly made available in hotels, motels, marinas, trailer parks, camps and other public or semi-public places by way of a machine which serves as both the ice maker and a bulk storage facility. Care and upkeep of these machines is essential because after the ice remains stagnant for a period of time, a frozen bond will develop between the pieces of ice thereby making removal of the ice from the storage bin difficult, if not impossible. Proprietors of the hotels, motels, etc., have had to, in the past, empty the storage bin by virtually chiseling the bonded cubed or crushed ice from the storage bin to enable the ice maker to fill the storage bin with "fresh" ice. This is a very time consuming task and must be repeated time and time again.
If ice were frequently removed from the storage bin, enough movement of the ice is generally generated so as to prevent the development of a frozen bond between the individual pieces of ice. However, the time period during which there is a demand for ice is generally limited to a three or four hour period of time, generally between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. as people begin to prepare for an evening of relaxation. Between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. the next day, there is very little demand for ice and, as a result, the ice remains stagnant for a prolonged period of time and a frozen bond develops between the individual pieces of ice. The amount of ice that becomes frozen together continues to grow until the storage bin is nearly unusable because a majority of the pieces of ice are frozen together.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an arrangement for preventing the development of a frozen bond between individual pieces of cubed or crushed ice collected in a storage bin.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an arrangement which periodically moves the ice collected in the storage bin, whether ice is being removed from the storage bin or not, to prevent the development of a frozen bond between the individual pieces of ice.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a storage bin for collecting ice which remains virtually maintenance free thereby making it unnecessary for the proprietor of an establishment having an ice making machine to periodically check same to make certain that the pieces of ice collected therein have not become frozen together.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an arrangement for preventing the development of a frozen bond between individual pieces of ice, as aforesaid, which is durable in its construction and requires little or no maintenance.
It is a further object of this invention to provide, in combination with an arrangement for preventing the development of a frozen bond between individual pieces of ice, a dispenser enabling a dispensing of ice from the storage bin without enabling the end user of the ice to have free access to the storage bin.